Lovely Manners was foaled in 1924. He was bred by Phil Thompson Chinn at Himyar Stud in Lexington, Kentucky. Lovely Manners was by Sweep, one of the most successful sons of the 1896 Kentucky Derby winner Ben Brush. Sweep won the 1910 Belmont Stakes. He was named U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt. He stood at John S. Barbee’s Glen Helen Stud where he sired numerous stakes winners, including General Thatcher, The Porter, Leonardo, Mantagna, Sweepster, Bon Homme and Eternal, the sire of Ariel. Sweep was extremely influential in early Quarter Horse bloodlines through his sons Cattail, Cherokee, Dark Friar, Denny Cooney, Erskine Dale, Escovar, Little Smoke, Maple Prince, Mine Sweeper, Mop Up, Pimiento, Rayon, Saga Flow, Sheridan and Sirdar.
Sournoise, the dam of Lovely Manners, was foaled in France. She was by Vernwood, a multiple stakes winner, and out of L’Eau qui Dort, a daughter of English Triple Crown winner Flying Fox. Sournoise’s first foal, Lally, won the 1922 Mamaroneck Purse in France. Sournoise was later imported to the United States where she produced black-type stakes winner Squeaky, as well as race winners Dust Up and Exquisite. Her daughter Sweep Easy produced Jolito, winner of the 1938 Seattle Handicap. Sournoise’s sixth and final registered foal was born in 1927 when she was twelve.
Lovely Manners was owned by L. T. Cooper and trained by William A. Crawford. As a tow-year-old, he won five races, including the 1926 Harold Stakes at Latonia in Florence, Kentucky. According to some sources, he also won the Hyde Park Purse at Fairmount Park and placed third in the Golden Rod Handicap at Churchill Downs. He only made one start at age three. His final race record was nineteen starts, five wins and four thirds, with $13,020 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $250,000 today.
The first foals by Lovely Manners were born in 1929. His first and only stakes winner, Manners Man, was foaled in 1932. Manners Man was a brown Thoroughbred stallion. He won the 1937 Woodside Handicap and Tanforan Inaugural Handicap. Altogether, Manners Man won 21 races and earned $21,375 on the track. He went on to sire stakes winners Efforts Duety and Manners Effort.
Sometime after Lovely Manners began stud duties, he was purchased by the United States Army Remount Service. The Remount Service provided horses for the United States military. It was officially activated as part of the Quartermaster Corps in 1908. Remount depots were established in California, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.
By 1918, the Remount Service began working with the Bureau of Animal Industry to involve professional horse breeders nationwide. The Thoroughbred was the predominate breed in the program. At one point, the Remount Service owned nearly 18,000 Thoroughbred mares and 700 Thoroughbred stallions. The next most common breed was the Arabian, which accounted for just 375 mares and 16 stallions during the peak of the program.
Lovely Manners was later leased from the Remount Service by Richard Kleberg as a prospective sire of cow horses on the King Ranch in Kingsville, Texas. Based on foaling records, Lovely Manners probably arrived at the ranch in 1933. One of the first foals he sired there was Lobo, a dun Quarter Horse stallion. Lobo was sold to T. T. East in Kingsville, Texas. He sired 44 AQHA recognized foals. Lobo appears regularly in cutting horse bloodlines through his great grandsons Little Peppy Three and Honey Dodger 2.
Don Manners was one of the best sons of Lovely Manners. He was out of Chicaro Jane, a King Ranch mare by Chicaro. Although Don Manners was a Thoroughbred, he earned an AQHA Racing Register of Merit running against Quarter Horses at Eagle Pass and Tucson. He was also famously beaten by a nose by Lady Speck in a match race in 1939. Don Manners sired Don Miers, an important Quarter Horse sire in Texas.
In 1949, Lucky Manners, one of the best Quarter Horse starters by Lovely Manners, set a new track record at La Mesa Park for 400 yards in 21 seconds flat. Other successful runners by Lovely Manners included Geo. Gable and Manners.
Even though Lovely Manners entered stud more than a decade before the AQHA was established, many of his foals still made it into the stud book. He officially sired 54 registered Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in seventeen foal crops. Collectively, they won 75 official races and earned $45,767 on the track.
His sons sired 77 AQHA recognized foals. Lobo, Manners Man and Don Manners were his most successful sons at stud. His sons Washita Apache, Manners and Gold Manners also sired a handful of Quarter Horse foals.
Daughters of Lovely Manners produced 52 AQHA recognized foals that earned $2,287 on the track and 21.0 points in the arena. Best Manners, a Thoroughbred daughter of Lovely Manners, produced Performance ROM earner Peppy Manners. ROM earners Bay Manners and Miss Guerra were also out of daughters of Lovely Manners.
Lovely Manners might have been forgotten, but he was influential in the development of the Quarter Horse in Texas.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, The King Ranch Quarter Horses, All Breed Databse
The Western Thoroughbred 